It has been to me a matter of astonishment that this by far the most beautiful of winter flowering-plants should not be more generally cultivated. I have grown it successfully for some years with less trouble and more satisfaction than any other flower I have ever attempted, although I have had some experience in most of the plants ordinarily shown at exhibitions. Few have any idea of the beauty of the Cyclamen if judged by those miserable specimens ordinarily seen in Covent Garden, or but too frequently met with in the houses of nurserymen.

I will enumerate what I consider its valuable qualities, which all who will follow the instructions about to be given cannot fail to admit, whatever their opinion of the plant might hitherto have been. The property of the Cyclamen consists in its being one of the most easily grown of any of our winter favourites. It has a compact habit, lovely foliage, exquisite fragrance in some of its varieties, long continuance of bloom, and to these must be added its greatest recommendation - viz., being of all flowering-plants the best adapted to indoor decoration. I have frequently had it in my sitting-room; and with most ordinary care it will flourish as well, or almost as well, as in a conservatory. The only attention it demands is to have its leaves brushed over every morning with a soft camel's-hair brush, dipped in a little lukewarm water. I consider that unless we are enabled to sponge the leaves of a plant, except some few Ferns, it is rarely suitable as an indoor one; but the Cyclamen is well adapted to this daily ablution, and is the only means of keeping it in health when confined in the dry atmosphere of a room constantly occupied.

The only objection I have ever heard against the Cyclamen is, that we have not enough variety in colour; but I hope even this solitary drawback will be eventually in some measure removed.

I consider that the Cyclamen at fifteen months' growth ought to be at least 1 foot in diameter, having a dense mass of thick variegated leaves standing almost erect, and the flowers not more than 2 or 3 inches above the foliage. The flowers themselves should be broad in the petals, about 2 inches in length, nearly round at the ends, and having a slight regular twist in each segment of the corolla.

I will give a description of how I proceed from the commencement, as I generally prefer raising my own plants from seed. It evidently most readily degenerates, as is the case with most of the Primulacese, and therefore some judgment is necessary in hybridising these, but which is easy, and in the majority of cases satisfactory, if the result is noted; and those not having the essential points above described are at once discarded, and not kept to contaminate others. The best time to hybridise the Cyclamen is as early in March as possible, but it may be done as late as April, although I consider the later it is done after the first week in March, the less chance you have of obtaining the wished-for result, as all flowering-plants are more or less hybridised by insects and other sources in the spring and summer months. When the sun shines is the best time to cross your Cyclamen, and it should be done in the following manner: Having selected a plant as male, with good-shaped flowers, take hold of the stalk between the left finger and thumb, just below the flower, and with the right thumb flip the side of bloom, and you will find the pollen lodged on the left thumb nail.

Then apply this pollen to the blooms of a plant that has good habit and stiff variegated foliage, which should in all cases be indispensable in the female. In performing this some care is required, as the female organs are extremely delicate, and will not admit of any rough usage. The pollen should be gently applied to the stigma, and it will be found that at least a small portion has adhered, which is all that is required. I do not think it advisable to cross Persicum with a P. rubrum, or with any other colour, except for variety; but endeavour to keep them distinct, and improve each kind separately. However, if you have a rubrum, for instance, with a bloom of good shape and colour, but nothing else to recommend it, make this the male, and cross it with another rubrum possessing good dwarf foliage, and the result, in most instances, will be improved habit combined with a first-rate bloom. Persicums should be crossed in the same way, but endeavour, if possible, always to have these scented. If you wish P. delicatum, you have only to cross a Persicum with P. album, and Persicum with P. roseum, to produce another distinct variety.

Not more than six flowers, on even a large plant, should be allowed to seed; for if a greater number be retained the seed will be small, and the plants obtained from it, in all probability, be wanting in that vigour which is at all times an important item in the raising of seedlings. After fertilising the six best blooms, all others should be at once removed, and the plants put in a rather shady part of the greenhouse, but still having as much light as possible; and no place can better suit them than a shelf protected from hot sun by wood-work, about 1 foot or 18 inches from the glass. The seeds are ripe in about ten weeks, are sown at once, and put in an old Cucumber or Melon frame, with a temperature of about 65° or thereabouts. In six weeks the first leaf will be seen pushing itself through the soil; and when these are an inch in length they may be transplanted into a pan, still retained in the pit, and carefully shaded from hot sun with thin canvass, as a glaring sun I consider at all times highly detrimental to them, but especially so when the plants are young.

Towards the end of September I select a few of the strongest plants and put them in small pots, still retaining all in the frames close to the glass until the end of October, or even much later, according to the mildness of the season, as I find the young plants do better kept close in an old Melon frame, where a little heat still remains in the fermenting material. As soon as frost or cold weather sets in, all the Cyclamens are placed on a shelf in the conservatory where the thermometer is not allowed to fall below 45°. Through the winter they do not grow much, but if the above temperature is maintained, they will be found to have increased a little, which is all that is desirable. Those plants potted in autumn will require a shift into a size larger pot in April; those in the pans should be potted, and either retained in the conservatory, or, what is better, put in a frame with a little bottom-heat for a month or six weeks; then about the end of May put out in a cold frame facing south-east, kept close for a few days, but eventually fully exposed during the daytime.

When the plants are in this cool frame they should never be too much crowded, but allowed some few inches between the leaves, so that air may freely circulate, and prevent that drawn appearance which must at all times be carefully guarded against. The system I am advocating, it will readily be seen, is never to allow a Cyclamen entire rest, but always keep them growing, however slowly, and not, as is the custom with all growers I know, to let them partially die during the summer months; and this, I believe, is the entire cause of that neglect which the Cyclamen has latterly most undeservedly shared with some other good old favourites.

In the management of old plants, if retained, I should adopt much the same system as with the young ones, except that they are not in spring introduced to a frame with bottom-heat, but partially shaken out of their soil, potted lightly, not pressed too hard, then placed in a cool frame and kept close for a fortnight or three weeks.

If the weather is hot during the months of June, July, August, and September, invariably sprinkle water over-head once in the forenoon besides the usual watering on soil; but it must be done with a watering-pot having a very fine rose, otherwise the foliage will be bent down by the weight of water, and eventually the leaves will not be erect and compact, which they ought to be. Another caution I must also give in reference to watering over the foliage, and that is, never to close up the lights for the night until the plants are quite dry, otherwise you will have them lanky, which, as I said before, must of all things be avoided. My plants are generally taken into the conservatory in full bloom early in October, when they continue to throw up flowers until the end of April, if not wished to seed from.

About Christmas a little liquid manure is weekly applied with undoubted advantage, and the bloom will be much prolonged by this timely stimulus; and should you wish the Cyclamen to flower for some months, it is of the greatest importance that all blossoms should be removed as soon as the tips of the reflexed limbs become tinted with brown. As soon, then, as the ends of petals become discoloured, they should be pulled out by giving a sharp snatch to the bloom, so as to detach it close to the corm; for if not entirely removed, the remaining portion decays, and the decomposition spreads over the whole leaf as well as flower-stalks, and the plant will not be completely recovered that season, even if detected in its earlier stages. I mention this because occasionally, with extreme vigilance, it will occur in the most unsuspected way, and I would advise some of the blooms and leaves to be removed, and the centre dusted over with sulphur, as the only means of saving the plant, which is sometimes of consequence if a well-known good variety.

The soil best suited, in all stages of the Cyclamen, is one composed of two-fifths coarse leaf-mould, the same quantity of very light soft yellow loam, one-fifth dry cow-dung, and sufficient fine white sand to prevent running together. The dry cow-dung should be collected in fine weather, and it would be advisable, after rubbing small, to pour some nearly boiling water over it to kill all seeds, which are very troublesome if not destroyed in this way. The leaf-mould should also be well wetted, mixed with cow-dung and sand; the loam should be ground down quite fine in a dry state, mixed with other ingredients, and you will then have the very best compost it is possible to make to grow the Cyclamen in.

The corm is always seen above the soil, but this should never be so, for the simple reason that the roots in this case will only arise from the lowest portion of it, whereas if buried they will do so from all parts alike; and this must be a very great advantage to so gross a feeder as this plant really is. When the plants are put into their blooming-pots I always place a handful of crocks in bottom, and on the top of them some small pieces of dry cow-dung, which is without doubt one of the secrets of success in the cultivation of this gem of the winter season. H. E. I. C. S.